Tom Ewing
@tomewing.bsky.social
Music, comics, assorted grousing, he/him. CURRENT THINGS are Discourse 2000, a 2000AD blog and Popular, about the UK’s No 1 hits. I also waste my time (and maybe yours!) with @peoples-pop-polls.bsky.com
https://freakytrigger.co.uk
https://freakytrigger.co.uk
Pinned
#PeoplesPop25 THE FINAL FIFTY
It's time to VOTE for your favourite finalists in the
WORLD CUP OF 2025
Take your time, choose 12 tracks and rank them if you can, then fill in the results on this ballot - you have until first thing Tuesday!
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
It's time to VOTE for your favourite finalists in the
WORLD CUP OF 2025
Take your time, choose 12 tracks and rank them if you can, then fill in the results on this ballot - you have until first thing Tuesday!
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
#PeoplesPop25 FINAL FIFTY
Welcome to THE WORLD CUP OF 2025! Throughout January and into February we'll be polling the best tracks of 2025 until we reach an ultimate winner.
This is the FINAL FIFTY - fifty tracks which have co...
docs.google.com
Spend a relaxing evening voting for the best tracks of 2025! (Poll closes tomorrow)
Age verification? The definitive pop star, the performance and musical standard against which I subconsciously judge all others, is a guy with a stripe painted on his nose dressed as an 18th century bandit yelling “fa-diddly-qua-qua”
Age verification? I sent away for a "blueprint" of KITT from Knight Rider. When it arrived months later, I stared at it every night trying to memorize all the details.
Age verification? I used to have to turn one TV knob to U then the other knob to get the larger-number channels.
February 10, 2026 at 6:09 AM
Age verification? The definitive pop star, the performance and musical standard against which I subconsciously judge all others, is a guy with a stripe painted on his nose dressed as an 18th century bandit yelling “fa-diddly-qua-qua”
Banger, not in English. This is my favourite European banger I've heard so far this year - it's jolly! I like German sort-of-rapping!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=X57Y...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=X57Y...
February 9, 2026 at 10:15 PM
Banger, not in English. This is my favourite European banger I've heard so far this year - it's jolly! I like German sort-of-rapping!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=X57Y...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=X57Y...
Long experience of running songs not in English against songs in English in pop polls has taught me to be very sceptical of "oh lyrics don't matter to me" claims in general, but personally lyrics matter a lot *less* to me now than they ever did, and sometimes they're an absolute menace
February 9, 2026 at 9:34 PM
Long experience of running songs not in English against songs in English in pop polls has taught me to be very sceptical of "oh lyrics don't matter to me" claims in general, but personally lyrics matter a lot *less* to me now than they ever did, and sometimes they're an absolute menace
RETVRN (to when any offstage voice in a comic had a 50% chance of being a parrot)
February 9, 2026 at 8:20 PM
RETVRN (to when any offstage voice in a comic had a 50% chance of being a parrot)
Spend a relaxing evening voting for the best tracks of 2025! (Poll closes tomorrow)
#PeoplesPop25 THE FINAL FIFTY
It's time to VOTE for your favourite finalists in the
WORLD CUP OF 2025
Take your time, choose 12 tracks and rank them if you can, then fill in the results on this ballot - you have until first thing Tuesday!
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
It's time to VOTE for your favourite finalists in the
WORLD CUP OF 2025
Take your time, choose 12 tracks and rank them if you can, then fill in the results on this ballot - you have until first thing Tuesday!
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
#PeoplesPop25 FINAL FIFTY
Welcome to THE WORLD CUP OF 2025! Throughout January and into February we'll be polling the best tracks of 2025 until we reach an ultimate winner.
This is the FINAL FIFTY - fifty tracks which have co...
docs.google.com
February 9, 2026 at 7:32 PM
Spend a relaxing evening voting for the best tracks of 2025! (Poll closes tomorrow)
Reposted by Tom Ewing
The strongest argument I've heard against building a city on Mars/the moon is that it would be infinitely easier to build a city at the bottom of the ocean, yet nobody wants to do that because it's so much work for so little reward.
February 9, 2026 at 4:21 PM
The strongest argument I've heard against building a city on Mars/the moon is that it would be infinitely easier to build a city at the bottom of the ocean, yet nobody wants to do that because it's so much work for so little reward.
Reposted by Tom Ewing
in hindsight it's pretty easy to impose the narrative that reggaeton and trap, gaining mass popularity circa 2006 (although there are clear consistent roots for both of them going back decades, and they were not understood as clean breaks at the time), are the global standard for contemporaneity
February 8, 2026 at 9:15 PM
in hindsight it's pretty easy to impose the narrative that reggaeton and trap, gaining mass popularity circa 2006 (although there are clear consistent roots for both of them going back decades, and they were not understood as clean breaks at the time), are the global standard for contemporaneity
I think that was a pretty bad set of commercials both from a practical “who is this ad for and how do you think it’s going to benefit yr business?” standpoint and a “divert me for 30-60 seconds” one, lots of boring tech ads and lots of manically running one idea into the ground
Now catching up on the remaining ones from last night - SO MANY boring genAI ads!
Going through the Super Bowl ads for work - perhaps the most compelling is the vibe coding app ad where a lady making a website goes "let's give it some more soul" and the app just makes the picture bigger
February 9, 2026 at 12:57 PM
I think that was a pretty bad set of commercials both from a practical “who is this ad for and how do you think it’s going to benefit yr business?” standpoint and a “divert me for 30-60 seconds” one, lots of boring tech ads and lots of manically running one idea into the ground
Now catching up on the remaining ones from last night - SO MANY boring genAI ads!
Going through the Super Bowl ads for work - perhaps the most compelling is the vibe coding app ad where a lady making a website goes "let's give it some more soul" and the app just makes the picture bigger
February 9, 2026 at 12:00 PM
Now catching up on the remaining ones from last night - SO MANY boring genAI ads!
Alert @jelbugle.bsky.social - Jon Bon Jovi was in a Super Bowl ad!
February 9, 2026 at 11:31 AM
Alert @jelbugle.bsky.social - Jon Bon Jovi was in a Super Bowl ad!
Reposted by Tom Ewing
It's the FINAL DAY for voting in this - I'll be closing it tomorrow morning!
#PeoplesPop25 THE FINAL FIFTY
It's time to VOTE for your favourite finalists in the
WORLD CUP OF 2025
Take your time, choose 12 tracks and rank them if you can, then fill in the results on this ballot - you have until first thing Tuesday!
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
It's time to VOTE for your favourite finalists in the
WORLD CUP OF 2025
Take your time, choose 12 tracks and rank them if you can, then fill in the results on this ballot - you have until first thing Tuesday!
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
#PeoplesPop25 FINAL FIFTY
Welcome to THE WORLD CUP OF 2025! Throughout January and into February we'll be polling the best tracks of 2025 until we reach an ultimate winner.
This is the FINAL FIFTY - fifty tracks which have co...
docs.google.com
February 9, 2026 at 10:22 AM
It's the FINAL DAY for voting in this - I'll be closing it tomorrow morning!
#TheTenX5 Day 9
42. PEANESS - “Seafoam Islands” (‘16, UK)
Dropping one indiepop track in like it’s Kind Of Blue in a best albums list, this is a jaunty and romantic song named after a location in the 6th best Pokemon games (don’t @ me purists)
youtu.be/q5X00H7DknU?...
42. PEANESS - “Seafoam Islands” (‘16, UK)
Dropping one indiepop track in like it’s Kind Of Blue in a best albums list, this is a jaunty and romantic song named after a location in the 6th best Pokemon games (don’t @ me purists)
youtu.be/q5X00H7DknU?...
February 9, 2026 at 10:10 AM
#TheTenX5 Day 9
42. PEANESS - “Seafoam Islands” (‘16, UK)
Dropping one indiepop track in like it’s Kind Of Blue in a best albums list, this is a jaunty and romantic song named after a location in the 6th best Pokemon games (don’t @ me purists)
youtu.be/q5X00H7DknU?...
42. PEANESS - “Seafoam Islands” (‘16, UK)
Dropping one indiepop track in like it’s Kind Of Blue in a best albums list, this is a jaunty and romantic song named after a location in the 6th best Pokemon games (don’t @ me purists)
youtu.be/q5X00H7DknU?...
Someone in the quotes was trying to diss this question by going imagining asking in 1966 which 60s music would have the most cultural impact and that is the worst possible counter example lol
What 2020s movie has the greatest cultural footprint?
Note: This is not necessarily about box office, Oscars, critical acclaim, though all of those can count. It's more... pieces of it have so completely permeated our cultural groundwater that it will always be there.
Note: This is not necessarily about box office, Oscars, critical acclaim, though all of those can count. It's more... pieces of it have so completely permeated our cultural groundwater that it will always be there.
February 9, 2026 at 9:23 AM
Someone in the quotes was trying to diss this question by going imagining asking in 1966 which 60s music would have the most cultural impact and that is the worst possible counter example lol
As someone who has watched (I think) one 2020s movie this is an interesting question! I’m choosing to read it as “people reference it and even though you’ve never seen it you know what they’re getting at” and right now I see a lot of Zone Of Interest refs for obvious reasons
What 2020s movie has the greatest cultural footprint?
Note: This is not necessarily about box office, Oscars, critical acclaim, though all of those can count. It's more... pieces of it have so completely permeated our cultural groundwater that it will always be there.
Note: This is not necessarily about box office, Oscars, critical acclaim, though all of those can count. It's more... pieces of it have so completely permeated our cultural groundwater that it will always be there.
February 9, 2026 at 8:57 AM
As someone who has watched (I think) one 2020s movie this is an interesting question! I’m choosing to read it as “people reference it and even though you’ve never seen it you know what they’re getting at” and right now I see a lot of Zone Of Interest refs for obvious reasons
Watching MONARCH: LEGACY OF MONSTERS - you know going in that the ratio of people minutes to monster minutes is not going to be ideal and so it is proving
February 8, 2026 at 10:26 PM
Watching MONARCH: LEGACY OF MONSTERS - you know going in that the ratio of people minutes to monster minutes is not going to be ideal and so it is proving
Hi, I'm from the parallel Earth where new rising star Labour MP Jonathan Helper has made another timely intervention to gladden the hearts of everyone who voted for an effective left-wing government. Before I pop home I just want to check what his equivalent on your world is up to
February 8, 2026 at 6:37 PM
Hi, I'm from the parallel Earth where new rising star Labour MP Jonathan Helper has made another timely intervention to gladden the hearts of everyone who voted for an effective left-wing government. Before I pop home I just want to check what his equivalent on your world is up to
Reposted by Tom Ewing
Blog update: Half Man Half Biscuit's temporary swansong 45 "Dickie Davies Eyes" climbed to number one on the indie charts in October 1986. "Mention the Lord of the Rings just once more/ and I'll more than likely kill you" remains a superb opening line.
indienumber1s.blogspot.com/2026/02/87-h...
indienumber1s.blogspot.com/2026/02/87-h...
87. Half Man Half Biscuit - Dickie Davies Eyes (Probe Plus)
All the singles to top the NME Indie Charts since its launch in 1981, complete with an overview of the other music in the charts each week.
indienumber1s.blogspot.com
February 7, 2026 at 8:37 AM
Blog update: Half Man Half Biscuit's temporary swansong 45 "Dickie Davies Eyes" climbed to number one on the indie charts in October 1986. "Mention the Lord of the Rings just once more/ and I'll more than likely kill you" remains a superb opening line.
indienumber1s.blogspot.com/2026/02/87-h...
indienumber1s.blogspot.com/2026/02/87-h...
Could AI write a blog about each of the UK's No. 1s? Yes? Ah, but could it provide readers with those tantalising three month waits between entries? I think not
February 8, 2026 at 5:28 PM
Could AI write a blog about each of the UK's No. 1s? Yes? Ah, but could it provide readers with those tantalising three month waits between entries? I think not
Floods of slop on platforms is like “what if the Long Tail was gangrenous?”
February 8, 2026 at 4:00 PM
Floods of slop on platforms is like “what if the Long Tail was gangrenous?”
Reposted by Tom Ewing
Take some time this weekend to listen to 50 of the top tracks of 2025 and vote on your favourites
(Also a great opportunity to strike a blow against cowboy investment advisors who use shitty SaaS products by voting for BADGER)
(Also a great opportunity to strike a blow against cowboy investment advisors who use shitty SaaS products by voting for BADGER)
#PeoplesPop25 THE FINAL FIFTY
It's time to VOTE for your favourite finalists in the
WORLD CUP OF 2025
Take your time, choose 12 tracks and rank them if you can, then fill in the results on this ballot - you have until first thing Tuesday!
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
It's time to VOTE for your favourite finalists in the
WORLD CUP OF 2025
Take your time, choose 12 tracks and rank them if you can, then fill in the results on this ballot - you have until first thing Tuesday!
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
#PeoplesPop25 FINAL FIFTY
Welcome to THE WORLD CUP OF 2025! Throughout January and into February we'll be polling the best tracks of 2025 until we reach an ultimate winner.
This is the FINAL FIFTY - fifty tracks which have co...
docs.google.com
February 7, 2026 at 9:09 AM
Take some time this weekend to listen to 50 of the top tracks of 2025 and vote on your favourites
(Also a great opportunity to strike a blow against cowboy investment advisors who use shitty SaaS products by voting for BADGER)
(Also a great opportunity to strike a blow against cowboy investment advisors who use shitty SaaS products by voting for BADGER)
I’ve always understood that the key to romantic success is to finish as rapidly as possible rather than take your time over anything
The whole article is repulsive but this passage is at the core of it. She has no interest in writing books, she wants to win some kind of competition that nobody entered
February 8, 2026 at 3:18 PM
I’ve always understood that the key to romantic success is to finish as rapidly as possible rather than take your time over anything
Reposted by Tom Ewing
🐳 EPISODE 1 🐳
A brand new podcast about a book about a fish is out now.
@leighsus.bsky.social (who's never read a book) and @pdkmitchell.bsky.social (who's read loads) discuss Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, chapter-by-chapter.
Listen free on Patreon or wherever you get your podcasts.
A brand new podcast about a book about a fish is out now.
@leighsus.bsky.social (who's never read a book) and @pdkmitchell.bsky.social (who's read loads) discuss Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, chapter-by-chapter.
Listen free on Patreon or wherever you get your podcasts.
February 5, 2026 at 6:24 AM
🐳 EPISODE 1 🐳
A brand new podcast about a book about a fish is out now.
@leighsus.bsky.social (who's never read a book) and @pdkmitchell.bsky.social (who's read loads) discuss Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, chapter-by-chapter.
Listen free on Patreon or wherever you get your podcasts.
A brand new podcast about a book about a fish is out now.
@leighsus.bsky.social (who's never read a book) and @pdkmitchell.bsky.social (who's read loads) discuss Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, chapter-by-chapter.
Listen free on Patreon or wherever you get your podcasts.
Pretty sure I have a whole Julian Cope album about this
February 8, 2026 at 12:21 PM
Pretty sure I have a whole Julian Cope album about this
Reposted by Tom Ewing
You have about 48 hours left to listen and vote in what they're calling the Super Bowl of Pop
#PeoplesPop25 THE FINAL FIFTY
It's time to VOTE for your favourite finalists in the
WORLD CUP OF 2025
Take your time, choose 12 tracks and rank them if you can, then fill in the results on this ballot - you have until first thing Tuesday!
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
It's time to VOTE for your favourite finalists in the
WORLD CUP OF 2025
Take your time, choose 12 tracks and rank them if you can, then fill in the results on this ballot - you have until first thing Tuesday!
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
#PeoplesPop25 FINAL FIFTY
Welcome to THE WORLD CUP OF 2025! Throughout January and into February we'll be polling the best tracks of 2025 until we reach an ultimate winner.
This is the FINAL FIFTY - fifty tracks which have co...
docs.google.com
February 8, 2026 at 11:12 AM
You have about 48 hours left to listen and vote in what they're calling the Super Bowl of Pop
#TheTenX5 Day 8
43. BULLION - "Blue Pedro" ('17, UK)
Hornpipe techno! What more needs be said really?
youtu.be/Ow8cLdgJ5LE?...
43. BULLION - "Blue Pedro" ('17, UK)
Hornpipe techno! What more needs be said really?
youtu.be/Ow8cLdgJ5LE?...
February 8, 2026 at 11:20 AM
#TheTenX5 Day 8
43. BULLION - "Blue Pedro" ('17, UK)
Hornpipe techno! What more needs be said really?
youtu.be/Ow8cLdgJ5LE?...
43. BULLION - "Blue Pedro" ('17, UK)
Hornpipe techno! What more needs be said really?
youtu.be/Ow8cLdgJ5LE?...